Paul Graves' Modern Twist on ‘The Garden of Eden'

Photographer Paul Graves has given a modern art twist to a classical biblical story; he created a balloon-filled ‘Garden of Eden.’

In Graves’ balloon art photos of ‘Adam and Eve’, the bark of the ‘Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil’ was formed with dark and tan balloons; the leaves from dark and light green ones; and the forbidden fruit (which is assumed to be an apple) is deep red.

Paul Graves’ balloon serpent looks quite ominous with long fangs and a dark red mouth as he temps Eve, who is wearing an anatomically correct rubber suit, to bite the forbidden fruit. In the meantime, a well-endowed and rubber-laden Adam is seen reaching for the fruit offered by Eve.

Since Jesus, according to mainstream Christian theology, was ‘with God in the beginning’, Graves included him too. However, his happy looking balloon Jesus, on a balloon cross, doesn’t quite fit with the Creation story—which may end up ruffling a few feathers.